During his exile Rama’s wife, Sita, is abducted
by the demon king Ravana and taken to the
island of Lanka. Making friends with a group of
monkeys, including the faithful HANUMAN, Rama
carries out his divine duty in defeating Ravana
and winning back his wife. When he doubts
her faithfulness, Sita passes a trial by fire. She is
taken back, and the rule of Rama begins in all
its perfection. Some versions of the Ramayana,
such as the Kambaramayanam in Tamil, end at
this point.
In other versions the story continues. New
questions are raised concerning Sita’s faithful-
ness, and Rama has his brother Lakshmana take
her to the forest. He does not realize that she is
pregnant with twins. Rama’s sons Kusha and Lava
are born in the forest ASHRAM of Valmiki. Eventu-
ally, they end up in a war with Rama’s troops and
defeat them.
At this point Rama realizes he has sons and
wants Sita to return to live with him. She goes
before him and in disgust at her two rejections
asks the Earth to swallow her up. Rama continues
his just rule and dies, as all avatars must, being
human forms of the divinity. Rama is worshipped
throughout India and celebrated in regional
folklore and high culture alike. Sita is always
included, and Hanuman and Lakshmana are
rarely omitted in any iconographic or pictorial
presentation.
Further reading: Ashok K. Banker, Prince of Ayodhya
(New York: Time Warner Book Group, 2004); P. Ban-
nerjee, Rama in Indian Literature, Art and Thought, 2
vols. (Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, 1986); Stuart Black-
burn, Inside the Drama-House: Rama Stories and the
Shadow Puppets in South India (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1996); J. L. Brockington, Righteous
Rama: The Evolution of an Epic (Delhi: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1985); Vidya Dehejia, ed., Legend of Rama:
Artistic Visions (Bombay: Marg, 1994); Frank Whaling,
The Rise of the Religious Significance of Rama (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1980).
Rama, Swami See HIMALAYAN INTERNATIONAL
INSTITUTE.Ramacharaka, Yogi (1862–1932) yoga
popularizer
The American-born Yogi Ramacharaka was a
popular author in the New Thought movement in
the United States. He later became the first major
popularizer of Hindu thought in America.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William and
Emma Atkinson, William Walker Atkinson was an
important and influential figure in the early days
of the New Thought movement, which included a
number of religious organizations devoted to the
application of metaphysical principles to healing.
He married Margaret Foster Black of Beverley,
New Jersey, in 1889 and they had two children.
He pursued a business career from 1882 onward,
and in 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the
Pennsylvania Bar. The pressures of his profession
caused a complete physical and mental breakdown
and financial disaster. He sought healing, and in
the late 1880s, he discovered New Thought,
through which he attained health, mental vigor,
and prosperity. By the early 1890s Chicago had
become a major center for New Thought, mainly
through the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, and
Atkinson decided to move there, where he became
an active promoter of the movement as an editor
and author.
In 1889 Atkinson’s article “A Mental Science
Catechism” appeared in Charles Fillmore’s new
periodical, Modern Thought. In 1900, he became
editor of Suggestion, a New Thought periodical,
and he continued to write for and edit another
periodical, New Thought. He founded a Psychic
Club and the Atkinson School of Mental Science
and became a prominent metaphysical writer,
publishing ten books on psychic, occult, and
New Thought topics between 1901 and 1911. His
Mental Science included lessons in personal mag-
netism, psychic influence, thought-force, concen-
tration, will-power, and practical Mental Science.K 348 Rama, Swami